Angelica

Jean Lodge

American-born printmaker Jean Lodge worked at Atelier 17 in Paris during the period this print was done. Using a number of intaglio methods to create the line and color of this composition she evolves a jungle of interwoven elements, not unlike the neural system of the human brain or some exotic crystalline structure. "Angelica" is the name of her partner, fellow Atelier 17 trained printmaker Angelica Caparoso, with whom she opened a print workshop in France.

She commented about that time:"I worked with Hayter in Atelier 17 from 1966 to 1969; the experience influenced my whole conception of art. The intensity and excitement in the Atelier came from Hayter’s insistence on using controlled ‘experiments’ to create unforeseen images. ‘If you already know what it is going to look like, there is no point in doing it.’

For Hayter making pictures is a profound, sometimes amusing and always daringly imaginative ‘game.’ It is played on the edge of the visual unknown and may lead to startling results. ‘If it looks out of balance, unbalance it even more.’ He provoked me to look for movement, surprise, the unexpected ... to take pictorial risks and to avoid predictable stability and harmony.